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10 — 471172-3 «PO 



FACTS AND FIGURES 



CONCERNING THE 






AND THE 



Agricultural and Mineral Resources 



EAST TENNESSEE. 



of the km 



under the direction of the Knoxville Industrial Association. 



H: 



KNOXVILLE, TENN.: 
PRINTED BY T. HAWS & CO., 108 GAY STREET. 

1869. 



Dfpccvf) of the Jttoxuilk j nduslrml % 



issociaiion. 



president: 
Hon. J. W. NORTH. 

VICE PRESIDENT : 

Col. JOHN BAXTER. 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY : 

CHARLES SEYMOUR, 

RECORDING SECRETARY 1 

W^ILLIAM RULE. 

TREASURER : 

E. McEWEN. 



EXECUTIVE committee: 

Hon. 0. P. TEMPLE, 1 D. RICHARDSON. 

PEREZ DICKINSON, H. S. CHAMBERLAIN. 

S. T. ATKIN, I 



PUBLICATION COMMITTEE ; 

A. J. RICKS, Esq., 1 SPENCER MUNSON. 



U. S. CHAMBERLAIN, 



VICE PRESIDENTS ! 



Hon. S. J. W. LUCKEY, Washington co. 
Gen. J. T. "WILDER, Roane county. • 
Gen. hays, Greene county. 

GEO. W. ROSS, McMinn county. 



CHAS. D. McGUFFEY, Anderson CO. 
Col. R. WHEELER, Campbell county. 
J. E. RAHT. Bradley county. 
W. P. RATHBURN, Hamilton county. 



REMARKS. 

The Publication Committee desire to acknowledge their indebtedness to the Hon. 
0. P. Temple, of Knoxville, and to Gen. J. T. Wilder, of the Rockwood Iron Com- 
pany of Roane county, Tennessee, for most of the facts herein set forth. 



a; 




The Immigrant, in selecting a new liome, naturally inquires, in refer- 
ence to the point in contemplation, concerning the Climate, the Soil, the 
Productions, the Schools and Colleges, the state of Society, the Railroads 
and IMarkets, the Minerals and Manufactures. 

We propose giving facts concerning these several subjects. 

Clisiate. 

East Tennessee lies between the thirty-fifth and thirty-seventh parallels 
of Latitude. Its eastern and southern line runs along the extreme height 
of the Stone, the Iron, the Smoky, and the Unicoi or Unaka Mountains, 
which are all parts or outlines of the great Blue Mountain. On the north 
and west, it is separated from Kentucky and Middle Tennessee by the 
Cumberland range. These mountains, especially on the south and east, 
are exceedingly high, rising to the height, in some places, of more than 
six thousand feet, and at one place exceeding the height of Mount Wash- 
ington. The Valley of Pjast Tennessee lies between these high ranges or 
mountains. It is about fifty miles wide and two hundred and fifty long. 

From these lofty mountains pour down into the valley the Chnch, the 
Holston, the Watauga, the Nolichuckj^, the French Broad, the Big Pigeon, 
the Tennessee, the Hiwassee, the Ocoee, and the Emory rivers, besides 
many smaller streams, all finally uniting and forming the beautifiil Ten- 
nessee. The waters of these streams, as they dash down from their 
mountain sources, are as clear as crystal, and cany fertility into all the 
great valleys. The rapidity of their descent aifords countless sites for 
manufacturing purposes, with power sufficient to move, at all seasons, the 
heaviest machineiy. 

Knoxville is the geographical, as well as the commercial, centre of East 
Tennessee. It is situated on a high plateau, on the north bank of the 
Holston, a stream that is navigable for steamboats a great part of the year. 
Knoxville is nearly one thousand feet above the sea level. Tlie extreme 



4 EAST TENNESSEE. 

eastern part of this section of the State is several hundred feet higher, 
while the western part, in the vicinity of Chattanooga and below, is lower 
than Knoxville. The mean elevation of East Tennessee may, therefore, 
be placed at nearly one thousand feet Its summers are delightful. The 
heat is greatly tempered and modified by the high mountains which svir- 
round the valley, while in winter the force of the winds from the west 
and north is broken and expended against the Cumberland mountains. 
For these reasons our summers are cool, and our winters mild and pleasant. 
Snow seldom falls, and ice rarely exceeds three or four inches in thickness. 
Much of our stock runs out, unprotected, during the whole year. The 
fierce winds which, during a great part of the year, violently sweep over 
the northwestern States, rarely visit in fury this mountain protected region. 
Swamps and stiignant water, so common in the west and further south, 
are almost unknown, except in the lower end of the valley. For this 
reason miasmas and noxious exhalations, except in the region just stated, 
are absolutely unknown. In the region of Knoxville, and in all that East 
of it, we are exempt from chills and ague, the great enemy of the immigrant 
in all the Western and Southern States. No process of acclimation is 
necessary here, whether the immigrant comes from Maine or Pennsylvania, 
from France or Nonvay, from the first he inhales a pure mountain air, 
and is as exempt from disease as our native mountaineer. He can come 
with perfect safety during any month in the year. 

From the Meteorological Record, kept at the East Tennessee University, 
at Knoxville, for January, 1868, we have the following facts: 

Mean Temperature for said month at 7 A.M., 32^ 45'.'; at two P.M., 37° 56' ; at 9 P.M., 
35= 12'. 

Mean Temperature for month 35^ 05'. • 

Coldest day, January 30th. mean temperature for 24 hours, 20° 16'. 

AVarmest day, January 7th, mean temperature for 24 hours, 52° 66'. 

Extreme Temperatures at 7 A.M., 14%' and 50M°; at 2 P.M., 2334° and 53J^°; at 9 
P.M., 22= and bV. 

Mean Baromoter Height reduced to freezing point, at 7 A.M., 29.089 inches; at 2 
P.M., 29.063 inches ; at 9 P.M., 29.089 inches 

Mean for 31 days, 29.080. 

The extreme temperatures during the year 1868, were 14° and 92°, 
giving a range of 78°. The range in Ohio is about 105°, in Missouri, 
over 100°, and in Florida, about 75°. 

Mean temperature for 1868, about 60°. 

It is a rare thing for the mercuiy to sink below 14°, or to rise above 
92°. From 30° to 35° may be assumed as the mean of winter, and from 
65° to 70° the mean of summer. 

During the month of Januaiy of this year, 1869, there were fifteen 
days that were fit for plowing, and every day was fit for out door work. 
Indeed during the whole round of the year, there are but few days, by 
reason of heat or cold, unfit for the ordinary avocations of farm life. We 



n 



EAST TENNESSEE. O 

are not locked up by the extreme cold and long winters of the north, nor 
worn down and exhausted by the .sultiy and long summers of the extreme 
south, from the effects of which the short and warm winters are insufficient 
to restore the constitution. A writer in the New York Tribune in January 
last, boasting of the climate of Jacksonville, Florida, states that on the 
21st of December, 1868, the mercury ranged at 85°- 101°- 91°, mean 
temperature for the week, 86°. He says it is " always comfoi'table in the 
shade, but excessively hot at mid-day in places exposed to the almost 
vertical rays of the sun." With the mercury at 101°, in December, it is 
reasonable to suppose that the shade would be comfortable. On the other 
hand, in Portland, Maine, July 5, 1868, the mercury stood at 9S°-110°- 
94°. East Tennessee occupies a golden mean between the extremes, which 
in climate, as in all things else, tends to happiness and safetJ^ 

In all the elements that constitute a health-giving and pleasant climate, 
we boldly challenge a comparison between the figures shown by the re- 
cords of the East Tennessee University, and those shown by the records 
of any other institution east of the Pacific Ocean. 

As proof of our superior climate we give below the rates of mortality 
of the different sections of the United States. 



RATE OF MORTALITY. 



Lowlands of the Atlantic Coast from Delawore to Flori-), 
da, inclusive, including two Counties along the coast,... j 

The lower Mississippi Valley, comprising Louisiana, and^ 
a breadth of two counties along each bank of the river r 
northward to Cape Girardeus, Missouri, ) 

The Alleghany Region, including East Tennessee, 

The region surrounding the Alleghanies. extending to thel 
lowlands of the Atlantic and the Mississipi valley, I 
and therefore including Kentucky, Ohio, Indinia, Illi- t 
nois, and Missouri, J 

Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, 

The Pacific Coast, 

Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, 

The whole United States, 



DEATHS 
IN 

I860. 


PEE 
CENT. 

1860. 


PEE 
CENT. 

1850. 


15,292 


1.34 


1.45 


30,346 


1.81 


2.38 


26,346 


1.08 


0.96 


79,615 


1.32 


1.19 


15,4.38 


1.24 


1.25 


3,991 


0.95 


0.92 


15,508 


0.98 


1.01 




1.27 


1.41 



It will thus be seen that our per centage of mortahty in 1860 was 1.08, 
while that of the North Western States was 1.32 ; and in 1850 ours was 
0.96, while theirs was 1.10. While the per centage of the whole United 
States was 1.27 in 1860 and 1.31 in 1850, ours was for those periods 1.08 
and 0.96. The number of deaths from consumption in Massachusetts 
from June 1st, 1859, to May 31.st, 1860, was 4,845, in a population of 
1,231,066, while in Tennessee, in a population of 1,109,801, the deaths 
from the same cause were 1,430. 



C EAST TENNESSEE. 

The Soil. 

It would be uncandid to assume that the soil of East Tennesse, as a 
whole, is equal to the virgin soil of most of the Western States. But 
that our natural advantages as a ivhole, are equal to those of any other 
State we do boldly assert. 

The large number of rivers entering the eastern i)art of the State, and 
flowing down the valley, sometimes for over a hundred miles in almost 
parallel lines, has cut East Tennessee into many long valleys, some of 
them, such as the New Market and the Sweet Water valleys, are from 
five to eight miles in width, and from twenty-five to fifty miles in length. 
The soil in these valleys was originally of the finest quality, consisting of 
a rich clay loam, and resting on a red clay subsoil. By long unskillful 
cultivation, and by shallow plowing, these fine soils are reduced in produc- 
tive capacity. All they need to restore them is clover, generous treat- 
ment, and an alternation of crops. 

Along the banks of all our rivers and many of om' creeks, there are 
bottom lands equal in quality originally, to the best lands on the Missis- 
sippi or Missouri, without the marshes, malaria, or mosquitoes. The 
average yield of these lands, in corn, with good cultivation, is from fifty 
to one hundred bushels per acre. Owing to the length and great number of 
our streams, the quantity of this bottom land is very considerable, some- 
times it spreads out from the river from one to two miles, and bodies of 
many hundreds of acres can be had in a compact form. 

From Kingston, eastward t« the Virginia line, it is nearly or quite as 
healthy on the streams as on the rolling lands. Through two-thirds of 
the entire length of East Tennessee, the currents move rapidly and the 
water is therefore pure and sparkling. Up towards their sources the 
mountain trout abound- All over this region, and on almost eveiy hun- 
dred acres, pure, bold and limpid springs gush forth from valley or hill 
side. Running water can be had on nearly every farm and often in every 
field. 

The remaining land not already described consists of rolling, hilly and 
mountainous sections, with innumerable small valleys and coves. In these 
lands gravel, limestone and flint are found. Limestone indeed is found 
nearly everywhere, sand in some places. All the rolling lands seem to 
have a pecuhar adaptation for wheat, as well as for clover. This is espe- 
cially so of the upper half of East Tennessee. Besides wheat, clover, 
corn, oats, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, timothy, herd grass and buck- 
wheat do well on these lands. 

Prof Safibrd of Cumberland University, and formerly State Geologist, 
says in his report in reference to these rolling lands : 

"The soil and agricultural features of the valley of East Tennessee, hke 
its rocks, are remarkably various. * * The numerous and delightful 



EAST TENNESSEE. 7 

limestone valleys excel in fertility. In many cases, one side of a ridge, for 
many miles in succession, may be seen covered with beautiful and lusur- 
ient grain up to the very top, while the other, all rock or sand, is worth 
but little more than the firewood upon it. There are extensive strips of 
country which do not partake so much of the ridge or valley character, 
that affords beautiful rolling farms and soils of excellent quality. ' ' 

Speaking of the high mountain districts, the same authority says : 

''On many of them the soil affords a fine growth, and an abundance of 
wild grass and vines, upon which droves of stock are kept and fattened. 
These, at present, wild regions, are well suited for excellent high land 
pasture grounds, and ought, some day, to be covered with cultivated 
grasses. ' ' 

Good improved farming lands in East Tennessee can be purchased at 
prices ranging from five to twenty-five dollars per acre. Rich bottom 
lands range from fifty to one hundred dollars. ^lountain lands can be 
bought in large tracts at from thirty cents to one dollar per acre. In some 
of the interior counties good upland farms can be bought at from one to 
five dollars. Fine ridge sides cultivated and well adapted to fniit culture 
can be bought at prices mnning from five to ten doUars per acre. Good 
grazing lands can be purchased in large tracts at from one to five dollars 
per acre. 

There is one fact in reference to our soil worthy of especial notice, 
and that is, that experienced and scientific men all concur in the fact 
that, even where it is thoroughly exhausted in appearance, it contains 
the elements of rapid recuperation, by proper treatment, and that it can 
all be brought up to the highest state of fertihty and productiveness. It 
quickly responds to kind treatment. 

The Products op the Soil. 

The products of the soil of East Tennessee are exceedingly numerous. 
Occupying a half way position between South Carolina, and the grain 
growing States of the north west, with an altitude greater than either, 
it combines many of the peculiarities of production of each of those re- 
gions. Here the yam, the peach, the water melon mature in luscious 
perfection. The fig also will ripen out of doors if shghtly protected in 
winter. 

On the other hand many products, more peculiarly belonging to a 
northern climate, do well in this region, such as wheat, rye, oats, timothy, 
buck wheat, clover, apples, pears and the Irish potato. 

Wheat. — As before remarked, wheat does well in East Tennessee, and 
especially in all that part of it lying East of Knoxville. The soil seems 
to be peculiarly adapted to its successful cultivation. Owing to indifferent 
farming generally, and the failure to use fertilizers, the average yield 
per acre is veiy low. But in the rare cases where proper care has been 



8 EAST TENNESSEE. 

bestowed on the preparation and fertilization of the soil, the yield has 
heen as high as from twenty-five to forty bushels. These results, as 
well as the methods which caused them, are exceptional. But they de- 
monstrate what a system of high farming would do for wheat culture in 
this region. The grain is decidedly superior to western wheat, and floui 
made from it commands a higher price in market. 

In one of the letters of Heniy C. Carey, of Philadelphia, to the Hon. 
Henry Wilson, occurs this passage : 

' ' Even before the war a great change had commenced in regard to the 
sources from which Northern supplies of cereals were to come, Tennessee 
and North Carolina furnishing large supplies of wheat greatly siiperior 
in quality to that grown on Northern lands, and commanding higher 
prices in all our markets. The daily quotations show that Southern Flour, 
raised in Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia, brings from three to five dollars 
more per barrel than the best New York Genessee Floui' ; that of Louis- 
ina and Texas is far superior to the former even, owing to the superior 
dryness, and the fact that it contains more gluten, and does not ferment so 
easily. Southern Flour makes better dough and maccaroni than Northern 
or Western Flour, it is better adapted for transportation over the sea, and 
keeps better in the Tropics. It is, therefore, the Flour that is sought after 
for Brazil, Central America, Mexico, and the West Indian markets, which 
are at our doors. A barrel of strictly Southern Flour will make twenty 
pounds more bread than Illinois Flour, because, being so much drj-er, it 
takes up more water in making up. ' ' 

The wheat harvest of East Tennessee is one month earlier than it is in 
Northern Illinois and in Western New York. Sixty-six pounds to the 
measured bushel, in a good season, is no uncommon weight, and some- 
times it reaches sixty-eight or seventy pounds. 

Irish Potatoes also do well in this climate. Altitude supplies the 
place of a higher latitude. Their quality, when raised on our high ridges, 
is but little inferior to a northern raised potato. The yield per acre, in 
good soil and in a favorable season, is from one to two hundred bushels, 
and sometimes as much as three hundred, but the latter is an extreme 
case. The peach-blow does finely here. 

Sweet Potatoes do well also, especially in the lower half of East 
Tennessee, from one hundi-ed and fifty to two hundred bushels per acre 
is merely a good crop. For stock, they are worth as much per bushel as 
corn. Nothing is perhaps better when boiled for producing rich milk, 
than sweet potatoes. In Louisiana the experiment was tried with Corn 
and sweet potatoes, on two sets of pigs of the same size and age, and it 
was found that those raised and fattened on potatoes made the most 
bacon. 

Corn is one of the gi-eat staples of East Tennessee. Every year mil- 
lions of bushels are sold to our neighbors south of us. Besides vast 
quantities are converted into bacon, beef, horses and mules. The val- 
leys of the Nolichucky, the French Broad and the Tennessee are as fruit- 



EAST TENNESSEE. 9 

ful in corn as are the Miami or the Wabash. In 1860, 50,000,000 
bushels of Corn were raised in Tennessee, against 70,000,000 in Ohio. 
More than one-third of this, and nearly one-half, must have been raised 
in East Tennessee, for the other divisions of the State were largely en- 
gaged in raising cotton and tobacco. For many years corn has been 
worth in this market not less than fifty cents a bushel in the fall, and 
generally more, and by the next summer it usually commands from seven- 
t}''-five cents to a dollar. 

Tobacco so fiir as tried has done well in East Tennessee ; nor is there 
any reason why hemp may not do well on our rich soils. Oats also do 
well. So also do all the small vegatables, such as beets, turnips, cabbage, 
carrots, parsnips, peas and beans. 

Apples. — As fine apples as can be desired, will grow on all our high 
ridges. The Cumberland Plateau, all the eastern counties, all our high 
ridges, and all the counties bordering on the Smoky and Cumberland 
Mountains, are peculiarly adapted to their growth and development in 
perfection. By planting on the tops and sides of the ridges, that we 
can produce apples equal in size and quality to the best raised in the 
North, does not admit of a doubt. Such apples can be raised on Black 
Oak Ridge, in Knox county, and on the many high hills within sight 
of this city. In such elevated localities the buds are rarely, if ever, 
killed by the severity of winter, or the bloom killed by the late frosts of 
spring. By proper cultivation, fertilizing and pnining, a good crop can 
confidently be expected nearly every year. First quality of apples are 
now (February, 1869,) worth from one to two dollars per bushel in 
KnoxviUe. Aside from our own market, the whole south, where they 
can't raise apples, and where they are worth more than oranges, Ues right 
at our doors. It is amazing that this splendid fruit and this inviting 
market for fortune making has received so little attention at the hands of 
our people. They do not raise even their own fruit trees. During last 
fall from fifty to one hrmdi'ed thousand dollars were paid to the agent* of 
fruit men in Ohio for frait trees, possibly a much larger sum. We need 
a nursery at Knoxville. 

Peaches, being native to the sovith, it is natural to expect them to 
ripen here in perfection ; and so they do, with that rich and melting flavor 
pecuhar to them in their native clime. Like the apple, by planting on 
the high ridges, and by proper care in cultivating, piiming and fertilizing, 
a crop can be expected nearly every year. Ripening here from twenty to 
thirty days earlier than in Ohio, and with a much richer flavor, when the 
Knoxville and Kentucky Railroad is completed, those who are ready to 
supply the Cincinnati market with early Crawford's or early Hale's may 
well expect to reap a golden harvest. 

Pears have not yet been so well tested as peaches or apples, but so far 
as tried they have proved successful. The Bartlett and Seckel have 
succeeded admirablv, so far as tested. 



10 EAST TENNESSEE. 

Grapes. — Before the late war the varieties planted here were the 

Catawba and the Isabella, and here, as nearly every where else, they 

proved unreliable — some years making splendid crops, and sometimes 

failing. Since the war new varieties have been introduced, and, so far as 

they have been tested, they promise to prove an entire success. This is 

jtarticulai'ly true of the Concord. That this justly popular grape, as well 

as the Hartford Prolific and the Norton's Virginia and other varieties 

will do as well here on the banks of our rivers as in any i)art of the 

United States, east of California or New Mexico, does not admit of a 
doiibt. 

On this subject Mr. George Husman, a grape grower of Missouri, and 
the author of a standard work, entitled " Grapes and Wine," speaking of 
the advantages of his State for grape culture, says: "The mountainous 
regions of Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas and Alabama, may per- 
haps rival, and evert surpass us in the future, but their inhabitants at 
present are not of the clay from which grape growers are formed.'" 

Grasses. — A few months ago the puestion incidentally arose, and was 
gravely discussed in the American Institute Farmers' Club, in the city of 
New York, whether the grasses would grow in the South (including Tennes- 
see in that categoiy,) and the conclusion published to the world was that 
they would not. And yet the Census Report for 1860 shows that our hay 
crop amounted to 140,027 tons. When said Farmers' Club was reminded 
by a letter from this place that hundreds of cattle live from April to 
November on the grass which grows wild on the commons around Knox- 
ville, and grow fat on it, the answer of the Reporter was that the club re- 
ferred to native, spontaneous grasses ; and that the extreme heat of sum- 
mer in the South would kill or parch up the grasses. Still failing to draw 
the distinction between our feynjoerate mountain climate, and the hot, arid 
sand field^ of the Cotton States. Thus are we coastantly confounded with 
the cotton and rice districts South of us, by persons professing to know, 
when, in truth, East Tennessee more nearly resembles in climate, soil, 
physical geography and productions the State of Pennsjdvania than South 
Carohna or Alabama. In over one-third of Tennessee blue grass grows 
wild ; over another third, including East Tennessee, it grows wild partially, 
and all over this region wherever the land is moderately rich with limestone 
rock, it can be cultivated in great beauty as may be seen in all our yards 
and lawns. In some of our valleys it is voluntarily spreading from year 
to year. But we are not compelled to rely on blue grass. 

Red Clover flourishes everywhere in the greatest perfection. On 
moderately good land from one to two tons is the average yield. On the 
best quality of upland, with a top dressing of plaster obtained just over 
our borders in Virginia, from two to three tons per acre are obtained. 
For forty years our farmers have sown clover for the three-fold purpose of 
hay, pasture and renovation of soil. The argillaceous character of our 



EAST TENNESSEE. 11 

soil and the presence everywhere of limestone, render this one of the 
finest clover regions in the United States. We know of no section where 
it does better, if so well. 

Timothy, also, does well in East Tennessee, not only on what is termed 
"meadow land," but also on our rich rolling lands, and especially on the 
rich sides and tops of our mountains. On the top of the Smoky moun- 
tain timothy grows six feet high. The average yield of this grass in 
suitable land is about equal to clover. 

Herd Grass, on low flat soil does well also, but it is not so much of a 
favorite as clover. Orchard and Hungarian Grass also grow here, ^^^lite 
Clover grows wild everjTvhere. On the sides and tops of our high ridges 
and mountains, vines and wild grasses grow luxuriantly, aff"ording fine 
pasturage in summer for sheep, cattle and horses. In these mountain 
ranges, in April and jNIay, large herds of cattle are driven, where they 
roam until October or November, when they are driven into the farms fit 
for market. Enterprizing farmers near the Cumberland have made 
fortunes by raising stock in these highland pastures. Georgia and 
Alabama, where clover and timothy do not grow except to a very limited 
extent, afford a never failing market for our hay at prices ranging from 
$1 50 to $3 50 per hundred. These markets are at our very doors. In 
them we can never have a successful rival. The same is true of bacon, 
beef, mutton, corn, apples, Irish potatoes, butter, cheese, eggs, iron, coal, 
and many other articles, which we can produce and they cannot, or which 
they cannot produce so cheaply or perfectly as we can. 

Schools and Colleges. 

At all times we have had a number of colleges in East Tennessee. The 
first public school West of the Alleghanies was established by Rev. 
Samuel Doad, D.D., in Washington county, in 1781, which was afterwards 
known as Washington College. Since the war a free school system has 
been adopted and put into operation, which opens the doors of knowledge 
to every child in the State black or white, rich or poor. The State Agri- 
cultural College has recently been located at Knoxville as a branch of the 
East Tennessee University. This will make Knoxville the attractive 
centre of the highest educational advantages in the State. 

State op Society. 

The people of East Tennessee are at peace. The outrages of which 
strangers may read are in Middle and West Tennessee. There are no 
Ku Klux outrages here. During the late civil war a very large majority 
of our people sympathized with the National Government. Those who 
took the opposite side in East Tennessee, are to-day law-abiding and 
peaceable citizens, quietly engaged in legitimate business. Many of them, 
possibly a large majority, sincerely desire to see immigrants from the 



12 EAST TENNESSEE. 

North settle with us and join in develoi)ing our wonderful resources. 
The immigrant will be as safe here as in New York or Pennsylvania. 
This is more certainly true of East Tennessee than of any other part of 
this State or of the South. 

Let not East Tennessee be confounded with the other divisions of this 
State, or with other i^a^ts of the South. We are a distinct and peculiar 
people. We hail the coming of the immigrant with a hearty welcome, 
and give him the assurance of perfect security, as long as he obeys the 
laws. We point him to our agricultural fields, to our vast mines of iron, 
lead, zinc, coal, copper, ochre and slate, to our vast quarries of marble, to 
our splendid water powers, now "running idly to the sea;" to our grand 
old forests of jjine, oak, ash, birch, maple, hickory and walnut ; to our 
equable climate as lovely as that of Italy, and invite him to participate 
with us in these golden bounties of Providence so lavishly bestowed on 
this beautiful region. 

Minerals. 

In East Tennessee geological surveys show that we have the following 
minerals, to-wit : coal, iron, lead, copper, zinc, lignite, marble, salt, nitre, 
epsom salts, oxyde of manganese, hydraulic limestone, roofing slate, potters' 
and fire clays, sand for glass, albuminum, ochre and asbestus, not to men- 
tion gold and silver which have been found in limited quantities. 

Stone Coal. — Our gi-eat coal field begins near Cumberland Grap, in 
Claibourne county, and extends South and South-west to Middle Tennessee 
and into Alabama, and is confined to the Cumberland range and its cognate 
ridges. Most of this coal region lies in East Tennessee — in fact nearly all 
of it The coal is mostly semi-bituminous though in some cases it is 
properly bituminous. Professor Safford, in his report, says that he has no 
hesitation, after reviewing the whole field : 

"In saying that our coal, in good quality and in beds thick enough to 
be profitably worked, is at least equal in the aggregate to a solid stratum 
eight feet thick and co-extensive with the table land, and hence equal to 
four thousand four hundred square miles. ' ' 

This may be an extravagant estimate, j'et it cannot be questioned that 
the quantity is practically inexhaustable. 

In 18C)5, S. W. Ely, an experienced geologist of Ohio, made an exami- 
nation of this coal region, and in his report to the company which employed 
him, he says : 

"In truth this inestimable mineral is so liberally disposed in the 
structure of the Cumbei'lands that it would tax the imagination to com- 
prehend the quantity. * * I trust the time is near at hand when 
Cincinnati and Louisville and the interior towns of Kentucky will seekin 
the coals of your Scott county lands an article which exceeds in }iurity 
and other excellent qualities any I have ever seen from the bituminous 
fields of the North. ' ' 



I 



EAST TENNESSEE, 13 

Since the foregoing reports were made the Knox\Hlle and Kentucky 
Railroad has been finished to the coal beds of Anderson county, a distance 
of thirty miles from Knosville, from wheuce coal is shipped to KnoxviUe 
and many of the STualler to^vns P]ast and West, to Atlanta, Augusta, 
Macon, Nashville and Memphis. At the last two places it comes in com- 
petition with Pittsburg coaland commands a much higher price. All our 
foundries and iron establishments attest the fact that Mr. Ely did not 
over-estimate the superior quality of this coal. It has been pronounced 
by the gas companies of Charleston, Augusta, Ljnichburg, Nashville, 
Mempliis and Knosville, superior to the best gas coal they have ever 
used. It weighs eight pounds to the bushel more than the Yough'y coal, 
which is the best coal known in the Pittsburgh market. The Rockwood 
Iron Company of Roane county, recently put in operation under the skill- 
ful supervision of Gen. John T. Wilder, is now making the best quality of 
pig iron from raw or uncokecl coal. It is said to be equal to the Scotch pig. 

Coal is sold and delivered to our citizens in the lump, at 20 cents a 
bushel, or $5 00 a ton; it is sold by wholesale to manufacturers at 15 
cents, or at $3 75 a ton. Our road as yet has only penetrated the out- 
skirts of the great coal region. Beyond these lie the richest beds. The 
coal penetrated by this road, according to the concun-eut testimony of all 
competent judges, is greatly superior in quaUty to that found in the lower 
end of East Tennessee. It is stated by those who are competent to give 
an opinion that the coal beds are so located as to be most cheaply and 
advantageously mined. 

Iron. — Iron, unlike coal, is found in the eastern and southern side of 
East Tennessee as well as in the Cumberland range. In the latter region 
iron and coal are often found side by side. Indeed iron is found all over 
East Tennessee. Prof SafFord speaks of three distinct iron regions in 
East Temiessee. 1st, The Eastern, which affords three species of ore, 
namely : the Brown Iron Ore, or Limonite ; Red Iron Ore, or Hematite, 
which is of two varieties, hard solid ore, or stratified dyestone ore, and 
the third species is magnetic iron ore. The second iron region, according 
to the same classification is what is termed the dye stone or Fossiliferous 
region. It lies at the base of the Cumberland and Walden's Ridge 
and extends from Hancock county to Alabama. It is found in great 
abundance all along this region. This region is said by geologists to ex- 
tend from Alabama to Pennsylvania. The third iron region is the Cimi- 
herland, which is associated with the coal measures onthe mountain. In 
this region Prof Saffbrd discovered — in Anderson, ]\Iorgan, Scott and 
Campbell counties — what is called Clay Iron- Stone, or an .impure car- 
bonate of iron, not before found in Tennessee. 

In Washington county there is a remarkable region of Brown Hematite 
ore, and consists of 50,000 acres. It is said that less than two tons of the 
ore are required to make a ton of pig iron. The iron made of this ore 



14 EAST TENNESSEE. 

been celebrated for j'ears as the best, or among the best in the country. 
A writer in describing it says : 

"I cannot better describe tlie proi)erty than by saj-ing that half the 
property is vast hills of iron from base to summit. The water jxjwer at 
the furnace is the best in East Tennessee that I have seen, there being 
fourteen feet fall on a front of one-eighth of a mile. 

In addition to iron there is found on this same property immense de- 
posits of j-ellow, brown and ^'an Dyke ochre, and most probably lead. 
Near by Calvin Cole is now taking out gi-anulated galena, found in soft 
blue lime rock from a vein forty feet in thickness. 

The iron made of the ores we have so imperfectly described has long 
been celebrated for its superior quality. Since the war a new impetus 
has been given to the manufacture of iron, especially in Greene and Roane 
counties, in each of which new and costly establishments have just gone 
into successful operation. At Eockwood they are now manufacturing pig 
iron. Tennessee iron is quoted in Louisville at four dollars higher per 
ton than the best northern iron. The iron at Rockwood is made out of 
the fossiliferous or lenticular ore. The main bed of this ore commences 
in Claibourne county, below Tazewell, and extends through Campbell, 
Anderson, Roane and into Rhea. Prof Safford says "it is nearly or 
quite one hundred miles long ; at many points two and three feet in 
thickness. ' ' He particularly speaks of Elk Fork in Campbell county, as 
"a remarkable and valuable locahty of this ore," where, "owing to the 
great number of minor folds or wrinkles in the rock, the ore layer is 
repeated a great number of times, and crops out in numerous parallel 
bands for a distance of five or six miles ; many of these are from twenty 
inches to three feet thick. In some i)laces it is six feet thick. The 
Knoxville and Kentucky Railroad pas.ses through this iron region. Coal 
also abounds in vast quantities in the Elk Fork A'alley. There is a similar 
deposit of iron and coal at Wheeler's Gap, also on the railroad. 

From a communication from an iron manufacturer to this Association, 
we make the following extracts : 

"Within eight miles of Knoxville are abundant beds of iron; and 
within twenty miles there is a body of iron said to be nearly equal in 
quantity to the Iron IMountain of ^Missouri and of i)recisely the same 
quality. * * No country of the world furnishes mineral wealth more 
convenient in locality, superior in qualitj', greater in variety, or easier of 
access than are our vast deposits. Almost every county possesses a wealth 
of iron sufficient to enrich a State or pay the debt of a nation ; and the 
flicilities for manufacturing are as great as the mineral is abundant. Con- 
venient water power, an iinlimited sui)ply of timber and bituminous coal, 
chea]) food and cheai) labor, furnish all the tacilities for priiducing iron 
cheaply and in unlimited ((Uantity. A distinguished iron manufacturer 
from New York gave it as his opinion that iron could be made by charcoal 
at one of the mines of East Tennessee and hauled ten miles to the rail- 
road at one-half the cost of producing a similar article hi the North. If 



EAST TENNESSEE. 15 

that can be done with charcoal ten miles from the railroad, what shall be 
said of mines equally rich and exhaustless lying where the railroad track 
cuts the ore-bed and Avhere coal banks are as abundant as the iron?" 

"Along the line of the Knosville and Kentucky Railroad, not fifty 
miles from Knoxville, are numerous properties now offered for sale at 
moderate prices where iron and coal lie side by side in limitless quantities 
and surrounded by beautiful forests of choice timber, with lime and sand- 
stone, fire clay and water power close at hand, all waiting, as they have 
waited for ages, for the magic touch of industry to convert them to use. 
In some localities these iron beds are pierced for the first time by the cuts on 
our railroads ; and yet, «uch is the blindness of our present policy, that 
tec hring from heyond the Atlantic the iron rails to construct a road upon 
our oicn iron heds! More than two million of dollars have been sent out 
of East Tennessee since the war for iron and iron wares that should have 
been produced at home. With such a fact before us there can be no 
r|uestion of a home market for all we can produce. The foundry-men of 
Knoxville have, until the present time, been compelled to purchase iron 
brought from Scotland to produce a suitable mixture for soft, light and 
thin castings. There are numerous places in East Tennessee where simi- 
lar iron could be produced profitably at less than the cost of this freight 
alone, sajdng nothing of the price of the iron. 

' ■ The ii'on of Carter county has borne a reputation for nearly seventy 
years unsuriiassed by any in the United States for toughness and adapta- 
bility to every use. The castings of this iron will bend before breaking, 
and car wheels made of it have worn more than twelve years on our rail- 
roads. _ And yet there is not a blast furnace in operation in that county at 
this time, and we import from abroad, at vast expense the iron that 
might be obtained from these mines at one-third the price we are now 
paying. The Telico Iron Works of iMonroe county, more celebrated than 
those of Carter, with iron equal in quality and much greater in quantity, 
have been idle for years, producing nothing. ' ' Two fui-naces now carried 
on by northern companies in Greene county and one recently established 
by Gren. Wilder and his associates in Roane county, are now producing 
three times the iron that is produced by all the old furnaces of East Ten- 
nessee. 

Other Minerals. — Space forbids us to speak in detail of our other 
minerals. Copper is found in vast quantities at Ducktown, Polk county, 
and it is believed to exist in other parts of the mountains that skirt our 
southern borders. It is sufficient to say, that, next after the Lake Supe- 
rior mines, the Ducktown mines yield the most copper of any in the 
United States. 

Zinc is abundant in East Tennessee, as the Zinc Works recently erected 
at Mossy Creek have clearly estabhshed. There is a fine zinc bed or vein 
in Knox county, within twelve miles of Knoxville, even better than that 
at ]\Iossy Creek. 

Marble. — There is a great interest attached to the marble of East 
Tennessee. In the columns and balustrades which largely contribute to 
adorn the State Capitol at Nashville and the National Capitol at Wash- 
ington may be seen specimens of the fine quality of our variegated marble. 
We have in East Tennessee the variegated fossiliferous. grayish white 



16 EAST TENNESSEE. 

fossiliferous, magnesian, black breccia conglomerate varieties. The first 
species is found in quantity in Grainger, Jefferson, Roane, Knox, Monroe, 
Meigs, McMinn and Bradley counties. There are two varieties of this 
species. The one is an argillaceous limestone, little fossiliferous, of a dull, 
brownish red and sometimes greenish and receives a smooth, fine polish. 
The other is par excellence the marble of East Tennessee. It is a higlily 
fossiliferous calcareous rock, has a bright ground of brownish red colors 
which are more or less freely mottled with white and gray fleecy clouds 
and spots. This variety is found in large quarries in Knox, McMinn and 
Hawkins counties. Quarries are being worked in each of these counties, 
and shippers find a ready sale for all they can ship to the eastern markets. 
A block of the light mottled strawberry variety was sent from Hawkias 
county to the Washington monument. This block attracted the attention 
of the Building Committee of the extension of the National Capitol, who, 
although they had specimens from all parts of the Union before them, 
decided in favor of and used the marble from East Tennessee. The 
marble used in the Tennessee Capitol was taken from Knox county. A 
large quantity from the same quarry was used in ornamenting the Ohio 
State CapitoL One bed of grayish white lies near KnoxviUe which is 375 
feet thick ; ninety feet of which, near the base of the bed, is massive 
white marble. The remainder contains more or less of the reddish points 
which make it variegated, the mottling consisting of fossil, corals and 
crinoids. On the French Broad River five miles east of Knoxville is a 
bluff of a beautiful light variegated marble which could be worked with 
little expense. Black marble is found in some localities in the extreme 
eastern part of the State. The whole extent of country between the 
Cumberland and Smoky Mountains is underlaid with the marble formation, 
and geologists have long looked upon this region with peculiar interest. 

Limestone. — Interspersed with the marble beds are immense depcsits 
of limestone. Tlie formation along the river two or three miles above 
Knoxville is in some places said to be pure carbonate of lime, free from 
silicious matter or grit of any kind. Good lime can be burned from it. 
Hydraulic or magnesian limestone is said to be found in abundance in 
Knox county. This is the variety from which water lime Ls burned. 

Manueactures. 

Manufactures are yet in their infancy in East Tennessee. With the 
exception of a few furnaces, two or three foundries, one nail factoiy, four 
or five cotton yarn factories, a steam tannery or two, some plow factories, 
a soap factory, a few steam saw mills, one zinc establishment, a few rolling 
mills, and a few other minor establishments such as every community is 
compelled to have, we are just where we were fifty years ago. In this 
respect we offer all the advantages of choice and monoply of a neio State. 
There is a fine field open for industrial enterprizes of eveiy kind. 



EAST TENNESSEE. 17 

There is a factory in the State for weavuig woolen good.s, but there is not 
one for weaving cotton goods beyond plain brown domestic. 

We import from other States all of our reapers, mowers, threshers 
and engines, all of our chains, axes, shovels, spades, hoes, rakes, forks, 
wire, sheet-iron, iron pipe, hinges, scythes, picks, willow-ware and rope, 
and even our axe and pick handles and wagon spokes, most of our i)lows, 
brooms, furniture, wooden-ware, fire grates, stoves, corn shellers, horse 
shoes and horse shoe naUs, domestic, prints, woolens, boots, shoes, hats, 
clothing, most of our carriages and many of our wagons, besides hundreds 
of other articles. The average cost of transportation upon thirty of these 
articles, as given by a leading hardware house, is seventeen per cent, 
as compared with the original cost. On stoves it is from twenty to twenty- 
five per cent. ; on reapers, mowers and threshers, fifteen per cent. , and on 
fire-i)roof brick one hundred per cent. Hundreds of reapers and mowers 
are sold here tliat are manufactured in Chicago or Ohio ; plows and axes 
and even horse shoes are brought from Connecticut ; stoves are brought 
from Albany, Philadeljihia and Cincinnati ; carriages are brought from 
New Hampshire ; even brooms are brought from New York. So it is of 
all articles except those which are the most simple in their construction. 

Knoxville as a Manufacturing Point. 

We boldly assume that iw point in the South or Southwest, all things 
considered, commands so many advantages for cheap and profitable man- 
ufacturing as Knoxville. Let facts speak : 

1. Our climate, as has already been shown, is perfectly healthful. It is 
emphatically a temperate climate. Out door work can be done the \vhole 
year round. 

2. Labor. — Unskilled labor is cheaper liere than in (he North; prices 
ranging from seventy-five cents to one d(jllar and thirty cents per day. 
The reason for this is that laborers can work the year round, that they 
need less fuel and clothing, can live in cheaper houses and can get cheap 
food. Skilled labor commands about the same prices here as in the 
Northern States, with the advantages above enumerated in favor of the 
mechanic. 

3. Provisions are cheap and abundant. Our remoteness iVoni the great 
centers of trade forbids the carrying of many of our bulky articles to these 
distant markets. They must be consumed at home. We raise cattle, 
sheep and swine, as well as cereals and esculent roots. The immense 
supphes drawn from this valley, by both armies during the late civil war, 
forever estabUshed its character as one of the most productive spots in all 
the land. In 1860, Tennessee produced 50,748,226 bushels of corn, 
5,409,863 bushels of wheat, 7,703,086 bushels of oats, 550,913 bushels of 
peas and beans, 1,174,647 bushels of Irish potatoes, 2,613,558 bushels of 
sweet potatoes, 246,027 tons of hay, and slaughtered $12,345,696 worth 



18 EAST TENNESSEE. 

of animals. Nearly one-half of all this, except sweet potatoes, peas and 
beans, should be credited to East Tennessee, because this is the region 
where these things do most flourish, the other divisions of the State be- 
ing engaged in raising cotton and tobacco. Before the war, it was esti- 
mated that East Tennessee annually furnished for the Southern markets 
100,000 live hogs, besides vast quantities of bacon, as well as horses, 
mules, cattle and sheep. This region is a grain growing, a grass pro- 
ducing, and a stock raising country. 

4. Iron and coal can be had here as cheaply as can be desired. They 
are brought by the rivers and by the railroads. Then, combine with iron 
and coal, cheap labor, cheap food, a mild climate, and a vast country des- 
titute of nearly every article made of iron, wood, steel, cotton or wool, 
and there is presented a market for sale and profit. Such is oiu- position. 

5. The fifth reason why Knoxville affords remarkable facilities for 
manufacturing is, that it is tJie center of a magnificent railroad system, 
and therefore afibrds an outlet to market in every direction. At this 
point the great through road from Washington and New York to New 
Orleans, will intersect at right angles the great road from Charleston 
and Savannah to Cincinnati. The former is completed, the latter un- 
der way. By the East Tennessee and Virginia Road, we enter Vir- 
ginia, and traveling through the heart of that State, reach, by a di- 
rect route, Washington and New York. By the East Tennessee and 
Greorgia Road, by way of Dalton, we reach Atlanta and the whole 
railroad system of Georgia. By the same road, by way of Chattanooga 
and WDls Valley, we strike the heart of Alabama, and reach, by a direct 
line, Mobile and New Orleans ; while by the same road, by way of Chat- 
tanooga, we reach Stevenson, and then turn to Nashville, or go direct to 
Memphis. By the Knoxville and Kentucky Road, now completed to the 
coal fields, and being pushed forward to Kentucky, we reach Cincinnati, 
Louisville and the Great West, by a route two hundred miles nearer 
than by way of Nashville. While by the Knoxville and Charleston Road, 
or the Rabun Gap Road, we will go directly to Augusta, Charleston and 
Savannah. And by the East Tennessee and Virginia Road, and the 
Morristown and Paint Rock Road, we will reach the heart of North Car- 
olina and strike her system of roads. This road is completed to within 
four miles of the North Carolina line. And by the Tennessee and Pacific 
Road, when completed, we will have a direct road to St. Louis. 

It will thus be seen that our railroad system, when completed, will be 
as perfect as can be desired. By it we can reach every important city in 
the county hy the shortest route. Our interior central position gives iis the 
interior and shortest lines to every important market. 

Whether viewed as the center of a rich agricultural region, or in refer- 
ence to its climate, unequalled this side of the Pacific coast, or as the cen- 
tre of a region wonderfully rich in all the great minerals except gold and 



EAST TENNESSEE. 19 

silver, or as being the point of intersection of two great railroad lines, 
that more nearly than any other lines in the country, cut all the region 
east of St. Louis and Omaha into four nearly equal parts; or viewed 
geographically as the precise center of East Tennessee ; or, enlarging the 
circle, as the center of a larger region, whose circumference sweeps around 
from Lexington to Louisville, from Louisville to Nasliville, from Nash- 
ville to Atlanta, and from Atlanta, by a wide circuit, round to Lynchburg, 
in which it is the largest town, the position of Knoxville is a most 
comma nding one. Atlanta is distant two hundred and ten miles, Lynch- 
burg three hundred and thirty miles. Little does he know of the laws of 
trade who supposes that a large interior town will not spring up in the 
center of a country destined soon to witness the highest development of 
agriculture, and to become an iron district, with all its attendant manufac- 
tures, unsurpassed by any in the country. 

6. Building Material. — Lumber.— Owing to the great number of 
our rivers and smaller streams which flow in every direction through 
this mountainous countiy, the very great quantity of timber of which 
wo are possessed is easily accessible. With our net-work of railroads 
and water courses almost all our tind:)er is easily reached and can be 
brought into market at low rates. The varieties of timber are very nu- 
merous. Wo have yellow and white pine, white, red and black oak, 
black walnut, hickory, chestnut, yellow poi)lar, white and red cedar, sweet 
gum, black gum, ash, locust, cherry and hemlock. The black walnut 
and cherry are found in coves of hills and mountains and bottom lands. 
Hemlock and white pine are found only in the mountains ; mainly on the 
South side of the State. White and red cedar are found in abundance 
on ridges and knobs near the rivers and rocky lowlands. The (juanti- 
ty of our timber and the facilities for reaching it far exceed the av- 
erage of agricultural regions. The red cedar is abundant and can be 
used for the manufacture of wooden-ware for which there is a great de- 
mand. Ash, hickoiy, oak and yellow pine can be obtained in the greatest 
abundance and at prices which aftbrd a large profit in all departments of 
wooden machine manufacturing. Black walnut, gum and cherry can be 
had here at rates comparatively very l(jw. Pine, poplar and oak for build- 
ing ])uri)Oses can be i>laccd in market with profit at such cheap prices as 
would astonish men from most sections. Poplnr, oak and yollnw ]»ino sell 
at fifteen to eighteen dollars per thousand ; black walnut and white pine 
from twenty-five to thirty-five dollars. 

Brick. — Our soil is peculiarly adapted to brick making. Tluu'e :iie 
but few localities in East IVMinossee where brick clay is scarce. 'I'lie bricks 
commonly used by our builders are large ; they will weigh .5 1 pounds ; 
are nine inches long, four inches wide and three inches thick. They can 
be made very cheap. At Knoxville the cost in the kiln is Jicc dollars and 
twenty-five cents per thousand. They were delivered last year to builders 
at prices ranging from six to ten dollars. 



20 EAST TENNESSEE. 

Lime. — The lime rock is very abundant. IMucli of the lime for building 
is burnt from what is commonly called marble rock — it is a species of 
limestone. It is delivered to builders at from fifteen to twenty cents per 
bushel. 

General Observations. 

For the information of those who desire to locate in Knoxville, or any of 
the smaller cities or towns of East Tennessee, we give some few general ob- 
servations that may prove of interest. 

The first railroad built in East Tennessee was scarcely completed when 
the war began, and iho growth of the country, as developed by these iron 
highways, is just in its infancy. Want of communication with the world, 
outside of the Valley of the Tennessee, had well nigh crippled every at- 
tempt at progress. Since the war, the building of railroads and turnpikes 
has opened up new and fertile sections of our country, so that, in such re- 
spects, we now present the advantages of a new country. 

Knoxville, from its position on river and railroads, must always be the 
political, social and commercial, as it is nearly the geographical, center of 
East Tennessee Since 1863, it has nearly doubled in population, contain- 
ing now some 12,000 souls. It has, however, business facihties and advan- 
tages greater than many places of twice its population. It is really the 
center of that great mountain region embracing Southern Kentucky, 
Southwestern Virginia, Western North Carolina and Northern Georgia, 
and all this section is naturally and in fact tributary to it. Knoxville 
wholesale establishments, of which we have several, deal extensively 
through all the country mentioned ; some of them selling over a million a 
year. We have banks and mercantile houses of every grade and class. 
Our manufacturing establishments arc, as yet, few in number, but they 
are prosperous and gro\ving. Om' advantages and facilities for manufac- 
turing are set forth in detail in another part of this papei'. We have 
churches of every denomination — Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, 
Baptist, German Lutheran, Unitarian, Catholic, and colored churches of 
the I'rcsbytcrian, JMethodiBt and Baptist denominations. The United 
States Circuit and District Courts, the Supreme Couit of the State, the 
Chancery, Circuit and County Courts for Knox county, are all held at 
Knoxville. The Congress of the United States has just appropriated 
$93,000 for the erection of a building suitable for a Court House, Revenue 
Offices, and other Government imrposes. We oftcr good educational ad- 
vantages. We have good free and select schools. The East Tennessee 
University, which has lately received the $300,000 Agricultural College 
Fund of the State, is located at Knoxville, and will soon be one of the 
leading educational institutions of the South. The Tennessee Deaf and 
Dumb Asylum is also located here. Knoxville has river navigation six 
months of the year. Lumber, corn, i)roducc, wood and coal, are brought 



EAST TENNESSEE. 21 

here by river from above and below. The rich bottoms of the Holston, 
Frencli Broad, Clinch and Tennessee rivers are in tins way made tributary 
to us. Building materials are low here, as we have shown elsewhere. 
There were over five hundred houses built in Knoxville in the years 
1 807-8. The prospects are that as many more will be built here in this 
year of 18G9. 

East Tennessee has a population of about 350,000. It has many fine 
agricultural districts, but it is sparsely ])0i)ulated compared with most of 
the States, The towns are few and small. The county towns are, in many 
counties, veiy small villages. We want more people. Our farms are too 
large, and we have too many acres lying uncultivated. The great want of 
East Tennessee is active, enterprising labor. Men of capital or energy can 
find inviting fields in almost every department of labor or trade. This need 
is keenly appreciated, and every man who comes here to live among us will 
find a people ready to welcome him and encourage him in all his under- 
takings. 

Travelers wishing to go to interior counties, can find transportation at 
almost all of the railroad or river stations at reasonable rates. 

Cheap Passenger Kates. 
All persons who deshe traveling South for the purpose of prospecting 
for homes or investments, can procure " Excursion Tickets or Certificates " 
at the rate of two cents i->er inile, which will be good until July Is/', 1869. 
We have no doubt but that arrangements will be made to continue thq sale 
of such tickets during the year. The above tickets or certificates can be 
purchased at the office of the General Eastern Agent of the Grreat South- 
ern Mail Route, at 229 Broadway, New York, or at 

Portland, Maine— W. D. Little & Co., 49.V, Exchange Street. 
Portsmouth, N. H.— Wm. M. Thayer, Union Ticket Office, corner of 

Daniel and IMarket Streets. 
Montpelier, Vt.— T. R. Ti-ue, Union Ticket Agent. 
Boston, Mass.— W. B. Clark, 74, Washington Street. 
Springfield, Mass. — James Wells, Ticket Agent, Hartford and New 

Haven Depot. 
Hartford, Conn. — Parsons & Jacobs, 13, Central Bow. 
New Haven, Conn. — Lester & Webb, 201, Chajiel Street. 
Providence, R. I. — C. K. Lewis, Union Ticket Office No. 1. 
New York— J, M. Huntington, 229, Broadway; C. E. Evans, 1S7, 

Greenwich Street. 
Buffalo, N. Y.— J. A. Burch, G. T. A. Buffalo and Erie Railroad. 
Philadelphia— N. Van Horn, 811, Chestnut Street; H. W. Gwinner, 

General Ticket Agent Pennsylvania Central Railroad. 
Harrisburg — J. J. Clyde, G. T. A. Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. 
Pittsburgh— S. F. Sciill, G. T. A. Pan Hnndle Railroad; J. R. Myers, 

■G. T. A. Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad. 
Baltimore — L. M. Cole, Gen. Ticket Ag't]>altimore and Ohio Railroad; 

W. E. Gaskings, 174, West Baltimore Street. 
Washington, D. C. — A Kerr, 374, Pennsylvania Avenue. 



22 EAST TENNESSEE. 

Persons starting from the East for Knox^'ille reach that place via 
"Washington, Lynchburg and Bristol. From the West take the route via 
Louisville, Nashville and Chattanooga. 

East Tennessee Copper. 

Just as this pamphlet was about to receive the last touch of the printers 
the following facts, from an address to this Association by John Caldwell, 
Esq., were placed in our hands, and though too late for classification we 
give them for the information of all interested. lie asks : 

Can ]<]ast Tennessee present a field for copper mining equal to Cornwall 
or Lake 8u})erior? 

In reply, let me call your attention to that magnificent mountain range 
bordering the valley of East Tennessee upon the South-east from ^\e 
Georgia to the A^irginia line, and give you a few facts and figures within 
my own personal knowledge. 

Early in ISf)!, I commenced mining operations, for copper, in Polk 
county, Tennessee, near the point where Tennessee, Georgia and North 
Carolina claim a common corner tree. These operations, although on a 
very small scale, sometimes working myself, with one man at the windlass 
and onp in the shaft, resulted in opening four or five mines, which liave 
been since sold and resold liy parties owning them, at from $50,000 to 
$500,000 each, and which have been profitably worked after hauling the 
ore, unreduced, for forty miles by wagon, shipping thence by rail from 
Cleveland, Tennessee, to Savannah, Georgia, and thence by water to Bal- 
timore, Maryland, or to England, to be smelted and refined. So rich, 
indeed, was the ore here found, that, before a wagon road was cut through 
moimtains which were declared to be imjn-acticable for a wagon road, a 
company was formed in the North, and their agent sent out to work a 
mine, whose favorite idea was to pack the crude ore over a mountain 
pathway for twenty miles on nmles, to a point where wagon transportation 
could be procured to the railroad. 

Polk county, Tennessee, and Carroll county, Virginia, are about three 
hundred miles apart. I have traveled over almost every mile of the in- 
tervening distance, and have found copi)er at various places, with evidences 
of its presence on almost every mile. The stratum or foundation is iden- 
tical, and the_ production very similar; and I believe the inference is a 
fair and legitimate one. that this Smoky Mountain, as it is called, is a 
continued cupriferous u.i)hcaval, which deserves the attentive considera- 
tion, not only of individuals, Imt of the State and National Governments. 

The Smoky Mountains rise some five thousand feet above the level ol' 
the sea. The Ocoee, Iliwassee and Tennessee rivers flow through this 
range, cutting these mountains to their base and crossing at their foot a 
hea\^ course of" hematite ore underlaid by lead. 

This course in Tennessee is two hundred and thirty miles in length, and 
is a definite waymark at the southei-n terminiis of the limestone formation, 
and tells the man of science and research where the transition series be- 
gin; and after he crosses the clay and talc slate, the gneiss, granite. 
felds]iar and quartz, wliieh form a hill from seven to eight miles in width, 
he reaches the i)rimitive or micace(ms formation which, so far as the Vir- 
ginia and Teimessee mines are concerned, is the matrix of coi)per. 

This inviting field for copjier oi)erations lies from fifteen to forty miles 
south-east of the trunk line of railroad through East Tennessee, contiguous 



EAST TENNESSEE. 23 

to and in a section already noted for its ])ure water, its genial and tempe- 
ate climate and its generous and fruitful soil. May we not, witli just 
pride and well-grounded confidence, offer this as tlie "land of promise" 
to the agriculturist, the miner and the manufacturer of our own and other 
lands ? 

We have here, in copper alone, a field seven times larger than that on 
which England has expended her money and energies, and been growuig 
rich for near two thousand years ; and while their operations were com- 
menced within a stone's throw of the ocean wave, and have been stopped 
at the depth of 3,100 feet by a degree of heat beyond human endurance, 
here we may begin two or three thousand feet above water level, and mine 
for ages unhindered by causes which have so long obstructed and now 
closed operations in many of her most productive mines. 



fast Mfnuesscc Iron and mn\. 



We copy from tlie New York Daily Times of the 21st of February, 1869, 
the following letter from its Knoxville correspondent. Omega, giving the 
substance of a conversation with Gen. John T. AVilder of the Rockwood 
Iron Company, in Roane county, East Tennessee, concerning our iron, 
coal and marble. 

Knoxville, Tenn., Wednesday, Feb. 17th, 1869. 

Some weeks ago there was organized in Knoxville an Industrial Associ- 
ation, which is likely to be the means of gathering and disseminating 
much valuable information concerning the resources of East Tennessee. 
I was so much impressed with some statements made by Gen. J. T. 
Wilder, formerly of Indiana, now of this State, at the last meeting of the 
Association, that I went to him after its adjournment and had some con- 
versation with him, the substance of which I wish to present for the con- 
sideration of your readers. First, let me state that soon after the close of 
the war, Gen. Wilder came to East Tennessee to make a thorough inves- 
tigation of its resources. He made this investigation for his own satisfic- 
tion and for the satisfaction of a company of capitalists, who proposed 
investing largely in iron works if his report should be favorable. Before 
beginning his explorations, and that he might the better judge of what 
he should see, he made a verj' thorough examination of all the principal 
iron establishments of the United States. Having spent the earner years 
of his life in a manufacturing establishment ho had a practical and thor- 
ough knowledge of the various kinds of iron and of its application. T 
mention these facts in order that his opinion may have due wei^t. 

Ho is now working .successfully a large iron blast furnace at Post Oak 
Springs, in Roane county. His works are situated four miles from the 
Tennessee river, in the midst of ono of the finest agricultural sections of the 
State. He uses red fossiliferous ore, yielding 50 per cent, of iron in the 
blast furnace, and making iion of a very superior quality. His ore lies one- 
half mile from his furnace. 1 le has three and one-half miles of iron ore, two 
veins side by side, four and sis feet thick. He digs his ore at a cost of 50 
cents a ton, and carries it to the mouth of the furnace bj^ a small railway 
running down the hillside at a gentle decline. His coal is about one-half 
mile off, in great abundance — venis over five feet thick, splendidly drained. 
It is semi-bituminous, free from sulphur, and makes charcoal iron. He 
uses it in his furnace raw from the mine. Not one pound of it is coked, 
and thus far he has made an excellent quality of iron. Some of the 



EAST TENNESSEE. 25 

largest and most successful |iroji dealers in Pennsylvania have made ex- 
aminations here, and declared it impossible to use our coal without cokina;. 
Experience is the best test, and I am glad to say that General Wil- 
der assures mo that his experiment is highly successful. This is a very 
important item of news, for it makes a ^eat difference in the cost of pro- 
ducing iron. There are but few parts ot the country whore coal is found 
that can bo used raw in the furnace. His ore ho can and does use without 
roasting. The iron made ft'om the above coal and ore is softer than Scotch 
pig, and stronger. Near by, within a stone's throw of his furnace, 
IS a hill of fire proof clay 100 feet high. Withm 600 yards ho has a brown 
hematite iron ore, such as is used in making the Rodman gun, which yields 
68 per cent, of iron. Here, in the midst of this mineral wealth, he has 
built his furnace. All about him are rich farming lands. Produce of 
every kind is delivered to his hands at the lowest rates ; corn, 50 cents per 
bushel; bacon, 12 cents i)er pound ; flour, $4 00 per hundred. On that 
property, purchased for a few thousand dollars, the company have erected 
a large furnace at the cost of $100,000. They have iron, coal and lime- 
stone enough to run half a dozen furnaces for hundreds of years. _ But this 
is not the only sjiot favored by Providence for such great enterprises. The 
Cumberland Moutains, from Cumberland Gap to Alabama, are filled with 
iron and coal of every kind. This range skirts the northern side of the 
great Tennessee Valley. In it are six veins of coal running horizontally, 
varying in thickness from one to six feet — usually five feet. Every vein of 
it is within sixty miles of iron ore, and most of it lying side by sidewith it. 
The coal is bituminous, and all of it of good quality, but varying in quan- 
tity. The Coal Creek coal, which is mined thirty-six miles north of this 
city, on the Knoxville and Kentucky Railroad, is five pounds to the bushel 
heavier than the Youghiogheny coal, which is about the best iron coal of 
Pittsburgh. The coal found in Roane county is equal to the great Briar 
Hill coal of Ohio. Greneral Wilder says it takes one ton less of the Roane 
county coal to make a ton of iron than of tho Briar Hill coal, Of the 
former it takes but 1,000 bushels to make fourteen tons of iron. They 
use of the Briar Hill three to three and a half tons to one of iron. 

On the Cumberland Mountains, mixed with the coal beds refen-ed to, 
running the whole length, is found the clay iron stone, of which the cheaj) 
Welsh iron is made. Bluffs of it are found one hundred feet high, and 
could be dug out at ten cents per ton. Along the base of the mountains, 
running from the Virginia to the Alabama linCj are two veins of a fossilif- 
erous ore, from two to fifteen feet thick. This is a fine ore for all kinds of 
castings. Running parallel with the mountains, we have ridges extending 
nearly the length of the valley. The same ore is found at various i)oints 
in these ridges, interspersed witli the black and brown hematite, gathered 
in little hUls and knobs. 

On the south side of the great Tennessee Valley, in the Smoky Moun- 
tains, which run about parallel with the Cumberland, we have the finest 
varieties of the magnetic iron ore. Near this range is also found a supe- 
rior quality of hematite and manganese ores. The New York and East 
Tennessee Iron Company in Greene county, make from the hematite and 
manganese ores a fine quality of spicr/ilcmn, such as is used as a ir-carhon- 
acr ill the Bessamcr steel process. The Greene County Iron Company 
make a fine iron from the hematite ore. Both furnaces are doing well. 
Up the different branches of the Temu'ssee river, above Knoxville, is to 
be found hillocks of limonite ore, and extensive beds and hills of all grades 
of the different oxide ores. These ores are not associated with any beds 



26 EAST TENNESSEE. 

of coal. All the coal lies on tlie north side of the Valley. But even these 
ores on the South side are nearer coal than the Champlain and Superior 
ores. The latter ores at Pittsburg cost the furnaces from |9 to $20 i^er ton. 

These are the coal and _ iron beds of ]^]ast Tennessee. General Wilder 
says our ores are superior in quality and quantity to the beds of Pennsyl- 
vania and Missouri. The bulk of the INIissouri iron is near the Iron Hills. 
It is harder, and not so accessible as the East Tennessee mines. 

There is nothing needed to develop these imiuense fields of wealth but 
cheap transportation. We can have this if the National Government will 
give us help. It has been said that the ojiening of the Tennessee river is 
of local advantage only — that it is a river of little importance. But this is 
a great error. _ Por 150 miles from its mouth, it is a better navigable stream 
than the Ohio above Louisville. In the summer months, it has a greater 
amount of water in its bed than the Ohio at Cincinnati. Six navigable 
streams cmjtty into it. With its tributaries, it waters one of the richest 
mineral regions of the world. Eight millions of dollars judiciously ex- 
jicnded at the IMuscle Shoals would open up a richer mineral country than 
the Ohio waters. We can float into the market of the world more iroii 
than is found on the banks of the Ohio. Is the opening of such a river of 
no importance to the people of the United States? Not only iron and coal 
fields are waiting the opening of this river for development, but the Holston 
river itself washes through the richest marble beds of the world ! General 
Wilder informs me that a heavy marble dealer at Loudon — about thirty 
miles west of this city — told him that it cost him more to get his marble 
from that point to Savannah by rail than it costs to ship marble from Italy 
to New York. He ships by water from Savannah to New York, and then 
he has to compete with the Italian marble under great disadvantages. No 
one doubts that, for most purposes, our East Tennessee marble is finer 
than any in the world. Specimens of it can be seen in the National Capi- 
tol at Washington. Oi)en u}) the Tennessee river so we can ship by river 
to New Orleans, and we will supi)ly the world with the very best of marble. 
The tributaries of the Tennessee are navigable with flat boats from the salt 
works in Virginia. Give us fi-ee access to the ocean, and we will ship 
without limit, gj-psum, salt, lime, marble, coal, iron, copper and lead. 



REQUEST. 

Persons desiring further information upon any facts hcvuia stated, are re<iuesteJ to 
address lion. J. W. Nokth, President, or Chaules Seymour, Corresponding Seoretary 
Knoxville Industrial As.sociation, Knoxvillo, Tennessee. Their letters will be prompt- 
Iv answered. The great object of this Association is to gather and disseminate in- 
formation concerning tlie resources of East Tennessee: and the officers of the As- 
sociation will take pleasure in rendering every service tending to promote this object. 
We desire to give this pamphlet as large a circulation as possible, and will, there- 
fore, send copies to all whoso addresses are furnished, and we ask all readers to 
hand this to their friends when they have read it. 



